In addition to having one of the highest out-migration rates in Europe, Albania leads the region in the loss of educated people to jobs and lives abroad, a study by two experts working for INSTAT shows.
Survey data show that 47 percent of people who hold higher education have left the country as of 2020, a very high number with inevitable negative consequences for the country’s economy and society, experts warn.
According to the study, the total number of people who had left Albania as of 2020 was 1,684,135 individuals since 1990, with a net of 350,000 leaving in the 2011-2019 period.
The data comes from surveys INSTAT and the International Organization for Migration conducted, which collected data on the level of education and employment status, in people 15 years and older.
High-level emigration of educated people makes the country’s economy worse and negatively affects the sustainable and long-term growth of the country – note the study’s authors, Elma Çali and Sokrat Palushi, according to Monitor magazine.
Albania also leads the region in the number of students going abroad to get an education, far outpacing other countries like Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina in a per capita comparison.
Experts note that brain drain brings an economic downturn further reducing the well-being of poorer nations. This phenomenon causes complex social problems that leave the country intellectually and technologically underdeveloped, as well as deepens the gap between developed and developing countries.
They note that persistent emigration is usually the symptom, not the cause, of an underlying problem. In the long run, governments need to address fundamental issues with policies aimed at improving governance, strengthening institutions, and improving public service delivery.
One solution, according to the experts, is increasing productivity in professions that require high qualifications, many of which are in the public sector, and making wages more competitive, so workers stay at home. At the same time, private sector development and job creation need to be complemented by public sector reforms, without which qualified professionals will continue to emigrate.
